Among the devices commonly used to clean dirty dishes, pots and the like belongs the so-called bottle brush. Such a device has the advantage that it includes an interior reservoir of liquid soap which may be dispensed directly from the bottle to the brush (or other scrubbing head) as the soap is consumed during the cleaning process.
In the heretofore known bottle brushes, the dispensation of the liquid soap has been effected either continuously or intermittently. One known continuous dispensation technique was to provide liquid soap in a tube that opened at such an angle to a sponge that the soap was fed to the sponge by gravitational action. However, not only was the tube/sponge interface fragile but the liquid soap itself tended to seep out through the sponge and thereby was continually being wasted.
One known intermittent liquid dispensation control technique was to provide a flow restriction in a liquid soap feed orifice that opened between a brush and a reservoir of liquid soap contained within a squeeze bottle. The flow restriction occluded flow of liquid soap to the brush unless and until a powerful squeeze was imparted to the squeeze bottle. However, the flow restriction tended to clog up, either partially or completely, which adversely impacted the utility of the device, and it was difficult to clean out once it had become clogged. Moreover, liquid soap tended to leak out through the flow restriction due to gravitational action, and it was pumped out inadvertently, due to changing the grip on the squeeze bottle, which wasted the liquid soap.
Another known intermittent liquid soap dispensation control technique was to provide a hand-actuated mechanism, such as a spring-loaded slide valve, in a liquid soap feed orifice that opened between a brush and a reservoir of liquid soap contained within a squeeze bottle. While this technique achieved a good control of liquid soap dispensation, it was disadvantageous in that its mechanical complexity rendered it expensive to manufacture and difficult to maintain and repair.